Rainbow and Roseau

Yesterday I went shopping with some other girls in Roseau. We stopped to have lunch at the Cornerhouse Cafe before heading home. I took a few pics while I was there. Then on the way to taking Alex to school today we saw a beautiful rainbow after the rain stopped. We see rainbows all the time in Dominica and it is always so beautiful. So I had to take a few pics of Alex with her new umbrella and the rainbow. Click below for pics:

Roseau and Rainbows

Here are a couple of Alex's art projects. The second one is for Grandpa for father's day. She made a bunch of kites. She put stickers on the paper and then lines below it. She loves doing art projects. Since she does so many I'm starting to take pictures of them so she can see them when she gets older. Maybe I can make a book with all these pictures I'm taking.

Yesterday we moved into our new place. I still have more things to bring over from the old place but I have a few more days to do that. We like it but it is quite a bit smaller. We used the air conditioner for the first time yesterday. It was sooo sooo nice. We went through about 25 units of energy yesterday when we normally use up 8-10 units. So I have a feeling the a/c won't be used that often.

Mero Beach

This past Wednesday I went to Mero Beach with some friends. Mero is a small town on the way to Roseau. It's about a half hour from where we live in Picard. Here are a few pictures I took and I also have a few more on my facebook page.

We parked at a womans house that lives on the beach and relaxed by her pools while some of us (including me) got massages. Then we had lunch at Connie's Beach Bar before heading out to snorkel. At Connie's Beach Bar I had the red snapper and a local juice (grapefruit) which came out to 15ec. It's interesting how things get less expensive when you leave the campus area.

Today (friday) we moved quite a bit of stuff to our new place. We hope to start staying there this weekend. I still havent' taken any pictures of it yet. Hopefully I will tomorrow or on Sunday.

St John's Catholic Church in Portsmouth

I took a walk with a friend, Kristen, today. We walked from Picard, to Glanvillia (where I will be moving), then to Portsmouth. We walked to St John's Catholic Church before we started to head back and catch a transport back to Picard.

St John's Catholic Church was destroyed by an earthquake in 2004 and has yet to be rebuilt. They are currently raising funds to rebuild the church. Here is a website to learn more about this church:

http://www.dioceseofroseau.org/portsmouth.htm

The first picture you can see what looks to be what is left of the bell tower. Also this is what they are using in the meantime to hold services. The wall does not go up to the roof. They are saving money so they can rebuild their church.

The second pictures is what is left of the church, the altar.

I have many pictures I took on our walk. Click on the link below to see the pics:

A walk to Portsmouth, Dominica

A beautiful day in Dominica

Today I went on a trip with the Ross Faculty Spouses group. We went to one of the faculty members house to spend the day and grill out. This place is so beautiful. The inside of the house was a dream compared to what I'm used to. I sure wouldn't mind living here and waking up to a view like this!

Cheez-its

Keith and his cheez-its. He loves these things like you wouldn't believe!!

School Art Festival

The first picture is of a millipede crawling across our floor. I hate bugs!!! Hopefully we won't see too many of these in our new place. Centipede's are the worst. I got bit by one about 7 months ago and I still have a scar on my foot to prove it.

The second and third pics are of Alex at her school art fair. All the kids did art projects and today and tomorrow they are displayed for everyone to see. The third picture is of Alex showing me the lion she made. She is so proud of her lion and she just loves doing art projects.

Red Rock Haven

Today I went to Red Rock Haven, a hotel near Calibishie, Dominica. We just spent the day at the beach and had lunch at the hotel. It was such a nice relaxing atmosphere. I hope to be able to go back during my stay here in Dominica. For lunch I had the Caribbean Pizza which was fabulous. The pizza had a guacamole base with cheese, tomato, pineapple, and rosemary chicken on it. Yummy! I also tried their key lime pie, which was to die for! I will definitely go back for that pie! The location is beautiful and the terrain is much different then what I've seen in Dominica. We got to see one of the rooms which is very nice as well.

Click below to see some of the pics that I took today:

Red Rock Haven

Today I went on a shopping trip again to Roseau. Kristen and I decided to try a different place for lunch so this is where we ended up. Garage Bar and Grill. I was pleasantly surprised and I really liked the food so I'm sure I will go back. Most of the time we go to Ritual's coffee shop for something to eat because it's air conditioned.. but this place wasn't bad and comfortable.

Tomorrow I am going to Red Rock with some other spouses so check back tomorrow and I will try to post some pictures.

Meanwhile, here are a few pics from the last few weeks:

Back in Dominica

Red Bananas

Yesterday Alex had a little friend, named Yunus, come over. His mom is a student here and needed to go to a mini review session (The mini is the name of their exams). They had so much fun!

This morning I got up early and met another girl and went to the market. This time I saw red bananas. I've never tried them before so I decided to buy a few. Here are a few pics of Alex with the red banana. We really liked it and it tasted just like a yellow banana.

I also got some plantains, and a bunch of peppers, green onions, and a couple cucumbers.

Now we are headed to the pool to do some swimming. Keith has his first big exam of the semester on Monday so he will be studying a lot this weekend. Wish him luck!

Cutting our Grass/Weeds

I had to take a picture of this man cutting our grass/weeds. He uses a long machete knife to cut down the weeds. He was here a few times last time I was here. Every time I see him I think of how tough that work must be. Plus to bend over all the time. It takes him a few days to do the whole yard too! He's out there rain or shine!

I don't know his name but when I first saw him I said good morning to me and he responded in French. He doesn't speak any English and our landlord told me he is from Haiti. It sounds like there are quite a few Haitians that come here for work.

Don't worry, this isn't how everyone does their yard. I have seen lawnmowers at Ross University, but that is the only time I have seen lawnmowers. The apartment next to us has their yard done with a weed wacker. Those weed wackers seems to be the most common way to cut down grass and weeds. I wonder why our landlord just doesn't get a weed wacker for this place. It would be so much easier!

I have so many pictures of cows! I had to take a few more the other day when I woke up to find about six cows standing on the road in front of our home. We are moving on July 1st to Glanvilia, Dominica which is the next town over. They don't have cows roaming around like they do in Picard, where we are living now, but they do have roosters. So instead of waking up to loud mooing we will wake up to roosters.

I finally got my digital camera battery charger in the mail. I am so happy. So I will have to snap some pictures of where we will be moving.